Remy Chandler has a new case – an Angelic General has been murdered. Apart from anything else, killing a powerful angel isn’t exactly an easy task. But more worrisome, if he doesn’t find out who did it, Heaven’s not going to look they’re just going to point fingers at the newly released Lucifer.

Which will mean war. And it doesn’t matter who wins a war between Heaven or Hell, Earth will be reduced to cinders in the process.

But in searching for the real murderer, Remy is involved in the convoluted plotting of an ancient figure from his past and has to make some very hard moral decisions. Especially since the angels and the fallen are not all that different from each other

I love how this book is written. In every scene we have some excellent description – but not too much. We havbe action that flows perfectly with blood-fizzing excitement without glossing over what’s actually happening. We have an amazing sense of epic – and this series needs the epic. The protagonist is a seraphim who is frequently fighting to save the world from the indifferent forces of Heaven and Hell – it needs epic. It needs lots and lots of epic. And it delivers – it’s one of those books that can very much be on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading.

Beyond the epic, this book also has some really impactful emotional scenes. It has some utterly tragic scenes, some really painful scenes and a whole lot of enraging scenes as well. I think it’s a mark of excellent writing and character development if you can well and truly loathe one of the characters (that is, if the character is written to be loathesome, anyway. I’ve read a few books where I’ve loathed the protagonist and I’m pretty sure that was unintended) because it means you’re so emotionally invested in the characters and the story that you can feel rage for the wrongs perpetuated.

This has that in spades – Remy is such a real character, such a human character (ironic, because he’s an angel) that he’s easy to connect to. His compassion, his honour, his emotion and his goodness are really powerful forces throughout the book which, along with the heavy amount of epicness in the story, makes me really want to get behind him. At the same time he’s very practical, he knows what compromises to make and what people to tolerate – even while, at the same time, having firm lines he will not cross under any circumstances. It’s an excellent balance of practicality with hard moral limits.

He also has some excellent interactions with other characters to really flesh them out and humanise them even if they don’t have much time on the page. His still apparent grief over his ex-wife, his fun relationship with Linda with both his doubts and the excellent bond and banter between them. His friendship with Mulvehill, his contact with Francis – it’s all very real

And they’re developed in their own right – seeing Mulvehill come to terms with the supernatural world is a powerful storyline of self-growth, discovery and determination. Seeing Francis, Mentagin, Squire and Heath together made for some awesome comic relief while still developing these relatively unpleasant characters – while still have the strength of Francis’s journey and underlying development – the fallen angel who isn’t sure what is right or what he should do.

There’s some wonderful development of the already incredible world building but – again – it’s so well written that we get all this new information without infodumping or it being awkward or convoluted – it works. If anything I will say it’s a little sparse in explaining the whole concept of the guardian of light magic and the guardian of dark magic – we needed more explanation as to what they actually were and how they came about. I did like that the white magic guardian was the actual aggressor. We also got some excellent development of the demons – both their origin and their actual legitimate grievance even if it doesn’t make them any less evil. It makes them evil for a reason – an understandable reason – rather than just “rawr, demons.”

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This is the sixth book in the Remy Chandler series; I really enjoyed it. All of the books in this series so far have been solid urban fantasy reads that are very entertaining to read. I would definitely recommend starting this series at book 1, since there are a lot of characters in this book from previous books.

When a General of Heaven is slain, Heaven and Hell end up on the verge of war...with humanity stuck in the middle. It is up to Remy to figure out who really killed the General and to stop things from escalating into war before it is too late. Tied into this storyline is the story of Simeon, a man who was made immortal by Jesus and cannot die, basically a Forever Man. Understandably Simeon is a bit pissed off at Heaven and this comes into play as well.

Life is looking up for Remy, he has a girlfriend named Linda and is finally getting on with his human life. His dog, Marlowe, continues to supply witty and amusing comments throughout the book as well.

Linda is an interesting character because even though she doesn’t know about Remy’s angelic nature, she is very accepting about the strangeness in his life. She is funny, helpful, sexy, and a great match for Remy.

Remy is still struggling some with containing his angelic nature. Although he seemed more comfortable with it in this book than in previous books. He’s such a nice guy but also incredibly tough when he needs to be. The book flashes back to images in Remy’s past, in particular we learn about Remy’s past dealings with the Vatican.

As mentioned above the book jumps between present and past. In addition to Remy’s past we also learn a lot about how Simeon came to be an immortal and angry man.

There are some interesting new creature/characters added as well. Remy ends up working with a sorcerer from the Vatican who is possessed by a Larva, we see a bit of what the Larva is but more questions are raised than answered. Remy is also being hunted by the Bone Masters. Although we learn some about how the Bone Masters operate, there are still a lot of questions raised about those creatures as well.

The plot is very well done with all the different storylines coming together neatly in the end. While the question of the General’s murderer is neatly tied up, there are a number of storylines that still need to be resolved. The book is very well written and easy to read and there are lots of very well done action scenes.

The book does of course deal a lot with religious mythology, however I didn’t find it to be a preachy read at all. I am not a huge fan of religious based literature, but for this series I make an exceptions. The mythology behind Christianity is very interesting and Sniegoski does a good job of blending it with other mythology and peppering it with monsters of his own.

Overall an excellent installment in this series. The plot is well done and I continue to enjoy and engage with the characters. There are some new interesting creatures and aspects added to both the world and the story. The action scenes are well done and the book makes for an entertaining read. Fans of the Remy Chandler series should be pleased. I definitely recommend this whole series to fans of urban fantasy. ( )